Alpha Or Omega

Color

Inks

Babette slowly loosened the grip from her ears. The screams had stopped. She sat there for a long while weeping in the darkness, her eyes long since drained of tears.

Her body trembled against her will. She’d gone too long without eating, though, her own wellbeing was the last thing on her mind. Her Little girl was wasting away just a few feet away but her pathetic mother couldn’t so much as provide her with an ounce of comfort.

Futilely she attempted to pull her arm away from wall for the thousandth time. The makeshift manacle, a crude steel bar stabbed into the wall, was wrapped so taut around her arm that her efforts only served to leave her forearm riddled with massive bruises.

It took all of her effort to fight the urges growing within. With every heartbeat her body spasmed ever so slightly, each time breaking down her resistance by the slightest fraction. Her body was betraying her, each second the monster she was becoming made its presence known to all the more. She was incredibly strung out with no options left to turn toward.

Babette eyes suddenly darted upward in shock. Two golden orbs stared back at here from the shadows. The coppery scent of blood wafted into the room and sent her body quivering with electricity. Her body craved sustenance and the scent of blood promised a savory fulfillment, she clenched her teeth again in resistance. A sickening feeling of horror fell over her upon seeing Mariette’s nude form emerge from the shadows, her lithe form was slathered in brilliant red.

“That creature is not my daughter!” She repeated to herself again and again.

The beautiful innocent girl she had doted upon for so long was nowhere to be seen in that killer’s body. That this monstrous transformation was inflicted by her own hand made it all the more gut wrenching. Babette’s golden eyes began to well up with tears again, wishing she could see her true daughter one last time.

Mariette’s presence now only served to intensify the torrent of fears plaguing Babette. She’d fought so hard to protect her daughters from the outside world. Yet the dumb irony was that she alone had brought this doom into her home.

Though Babette was the first to be infected her children were consumed by its demonic hunger ahead of her. She was powerless to save her child from this creature that now possessed her, the same creature who was this very moment sinking it’s fangs into her very soul.

The metal tray Mariette carried in her blood stained hands had a hypnotic aroma about it. Its mere presence made her body throb. The intensity of her body’s pain prevented her from noticing how her canine features were starting to become much more prominent in response to that sweet scent.

Babette slipped dangerously close to the abyss. She clenched her hands into tight fists. She tried to use the pain of her claws digging into her own flesh to fight the growing urges with everything she had left.

Mariette presented the tray to her mother, she couldn’t hide the devilish grin that stretched over her blood splattered face. Upon seeing its contents Babette’s eyes widened in terror. A single bowl of blood red soup beside which sat a glistening chunk of moist flesh. A single gory bone could be seen poking out of the vile liquid. The screams she had heard earlier started to echo endlessly in her mind, the death throes of that poor wretched child.

She had pleaded, begged, prayed for her daughter to stop these wicked acts, but it was so obvious now that there was no going back for any of them. Her poor innocent child was truly dead. This monster towering over her had consumed her little girl, mind, body, and soul.

Mariette sat the tray on her mother’s lap as she leaned close to whisper into her ear. Her bloody fangs glowing with every word. Babette’s eyes narrowed in disgust upon hearing her daughter, no this creature’s, words. A guttural growl escaped from deep within Babette as she reached for the glistening knife on the tray with her free hand.

Babette swung wildly at her daughter burying its blade deep into her upper back! The platter and its gory contents went flying as Mariette roared in pain and leapt back several feet. She was coiled up like a wounded animal ready to strike at moment’s notice. Her breathing became labored as her musculature expand several times beyond her normal size. Her eyes glowered defiantly at her mother, tears welling up from the fiery sting of the blade.

They sat there growling back at one another for several minutes as a bright stream of blood oozed from the puncture in Mariette’s back, her lungs were on fire, but her new anatomy made her more than capable of shrugging off so severe a wound. Mariette loosed a wicked grin surprised at her mother’s defiance. Mariette had always looked down on her mother for being such a weakling, but here, now, they seemed nearly on equal terms.

Babette sat there in a daze panting loudly, her body coursing with adrenaline. She was dangerously close to the tipping point, her pupils reduced to animalistic pin pricks. In the excitement of her outburst she wasn’t even aware that she had severely fractured her pinned down arm. The pain helped her to regain a portion of her mental composure.

Mariette scooped up the chunk of flesh from the platter, stood up, and walked slowly toward her twin sister’s bed.

“Look what I have. Steak Tartare, your favorite.” She shot her mother an icy glare from across the room.

Her sister moaned weakly at being disturbed. She reached out aimlessly with a delicate arm. Despite being twins her older sister Cosette was barely a skeleton. Such a stark contrast to the chiseled from Mariette now bore.

“NO! STOP IT!!! Don’t corrupt her too!”

Babette viciously tried to pull her arm away from her restraint. But it was no use. Her adrenaline high had already faded her arm was on fire from the fractures it had sustained. Upon seeing how monstrous her hands had become she started to break down. Wicked blood soaked talons had ripped through her fingertips her hands looked more like animalistic paws.

She watched helplessly as Mariette squeezed the chunk of torn flesh in her hand. A stream of crimson dripped into Cosette’s mouth. She lapped it up hungrily.